You Need To Stop These 3 Habits If You Want To Perfect Your Morning Routine

Jan 04, 2019

Everybody has a morning routine. Whether these routines are strict, to-the-minute regimens or loose collections of activities people are likely to do when starting their day, they can most likely be optimized. However, not all morning habits are good ones.

Even though these three things are a common part of most people's wake-up activities, they're far more harmful than you think. Kick 'em to the curb and start treating your body and mind better.

Some people like to wake up at 4:00 a.m. and workout. Others might routinely sleep until noon to make sure they're well-rested. Some people shower in the morning, whereas others bathe before they go to bed.

Whatever your morning routine consists of, you can almost certainly improve it dramatically by making nothing more than a few small tweaks. Although parting with these three things may prove difficult, blocking them out of your first few moments of each day for just a few weeks will make you realize just how detrimental they are.

You're almost certainly familiar with this piece of popular science - receiving text messages, social media notifications, and alerts release the aptly-named "feel-good chemicals" in the human brain.

Seemingly everybody has a smartphone. Most Americans can't go very far without carrying them on their person. However, using yours in the morning could actually decrease your productivity.

Although you can substitute whatever activities for morning-time social media browsing you desire, we suggest exercising for a few minutes. Science suggests that you'll feel more productive. You could also spend a few moments meditating, discussing or journaling about what you're grateful for, or just being present in the moment while you eat breakfast and get ready to face the day.

Coffee is known to increase focus, raise alertness, boost your drive to succeed, and otherwise kickstart your morning. However, habitually using caffeine can result in both short-term and long-term health problems.

Caffeine, the drug found in coffee that's responsible for its stimulating effects, is an addictive substance. When habitual coffee drinkers go without caffeine for just one day, they are awoken with symptoms like headaches, not feeling productive, upset stomach, irritability, and difficulties staying awake.

Quitting coffee difficult. Fortunately, you can seek out green tea in replacement of coffee. Green tea contains relatively low levels of caffeine, meaning you'll be less likely to experience negative physical and mental side effects of the drug. Further, green tea is packed to the brim with L-Theanine, a substance found naturally in tea that acts to increase cognitive function.

Alarms that can readily be snoozed, ranging from smartphones to free-standing alarm clocks, often find their snooze options being taken advantage of.

People who habitually hit their alarms' snooze buttons are less likely to respond to their alarms as they repeat the snooze-and-re-snooze cycle morning after morning. This results in people being faced with an increased likelihood of missing one's alarm and being late for work, school, or other responsibilities.

Try going to sleep early and see when you wake up the next morning, on average. You can reliably go without an alarm clock and still be certain you'll wake up. Try it!

Do you know someone with a morning routine that works for them? Let us know about it in the comments and pass this along to your friends and family to allow them to lead more productive lives!